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Weekly Recap #477 December 3rd – FFXIV Endwalker Early Access, Rocket League Sideswipe & More!

JamesBl0nde recaps the MMO gaming news for the week of December 3, 2021! Transcript follows.


Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker is finally here for some, Path of Exile has some crazy events lined up for the end of the year, this year’s final God release in Smite is the Bearer of the Heavens and you gotta see the new CGI trailer for The New War in Warframe!

What’s good everyone, JamesBl0nde here with the weekly recap for gaming news and announcements for the week of December 3rd, 2021 and we’ve got a pretty packed recap this week so starting off the news…

Have you ever wanted to ride your own dragon, facing off against hordes of enemies and incinerating all in your path?  Well, now’s your chance, since Century: Age of Ashes has officially launched on Steam!  This free-to-play arena shooter features three competitive game modes, loads of dragons to unlock, classes to master, and much more.  The team is promising at least two events per month to keep the game fresh and entertaining for a long time to come, so it will be interesting to see how the game develops further as console releases follow.

Meanwhile for some people, the wait for Final Fantasy 14’s latest expansion, Endwalker, has ended!  Early access for preorder customers began today, granting players access to all expansion content including the two new classes: Reaper and Sage.  In addition, they’ll be able to travel to every new zone, engage in all new dungeons, and much more.  To celebrate, acclaimed singer Sia has produced a brand new music video entitled “Fly Me To the Moon” given one of the central themes of this expansion. That’s pretty cool! Full access to Endwalker will begin on Tuesday, December 7.

Everquest II is also celebrating the launch of its latest expansion: Visions of Vetrovia.  This oceanic themed adventure will see a level increase to 125 as you prepare to face off all new solo, heroic, and raid content.  Crafters can gain five new crafter levels, and use blueprints to quicken items they’ve made before.  Of course, all new zones await you, including jungles, wastelands, and more, pitting you against witches, zombies, cannibals, and even dinosaurs!

In other news, a crowdfunding campaign has started for Soul Kingdoms, which describes itself as an MMO-lite. Created by Power Proc Studios, the game aims to draw together the qualities of an MMO with the on-demand nature of match-based games, and a primary focus on PvP. Players will be able to access a central town hub, explore an outer zone for harvesting, crafting, and mini-games, and then take part in many large scale game modes and smaller competitive battlegrounds. This first milestone hopes to raise $15,000 US and will be active until November 18th. If you like the idea make sure to check out their website, linked below, for more info and a chance to sign up for play testing.

Warframe’s new expansion also looms on the horizon.  The New War is something we’re all looking forward to, and Digital Extremes has finally given us a release date: December 15!  This expansion brings new playable characters, Warframes, quests, Arsenal and much more. Along with the release date, the team has also dropped the first fully CGI trailer for The New War expansion, created by Blur Studio, a very well known name in video game CGI trailers!

Love Rocket League but want to play it on the go? Well you’re in luck, as this week marks the launch of Rocket League Sideswipe. This is a mobile version of the Rocket League ‘car soccer’ action, with touch controls, 1v1 and 2v2 modes, and short matches designed to last just two minutes – enough for a quick break at work. Do note that this is not a cross play version of Rocket League itself; it’s a reimagined version of Rocket League for mobile players. Seems like a great thing for those who want a more portable version of the game with less time to commit.

Meanwhile Dauntless is continuing to impress its fans as it released this week on next – gen consoles: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S. These new console players will be welcomed with the rest of the game in full cross-play, so if you’ve got one of the new consoles it’d be worth installing it there instead! This new next-gen Dauntless features sharper graphics and reduced load times which will enhance your monster hunting experience. Dauntless also introduced a new shock Behemoth this week – Sahvyt, a menacing stealthy creature that will help players craft new gear.

If you truly believe, then you should be able to find the all new Lemuria area in Wizard101’s latest update!  With an all new storyline, world scenes, characters, bosses, equipment, and so much more, you can guide your wizard to the new level cap of 150. It’s up to you to figure out the mysteries behind a land that’s supposed to not exist, and right the wrongs committed in history. The update also revamps the Quest Journal, improvements to Adventure Parties, new PvP updates and Beastforms and much more.

The end of the year is the best time to launch new content, and NosTale is delivering their biggest content drop yet – the Celestial Lair. This whole new continent is home to dragons and draconians, and you’ll be tasked to find what caused the sudden turn of the dragons against the draconian people they’d lived in harmony with. The Celestial Lair releases on December 13, containing new maps, new raids, new time-space instances, monsters, gear, and adventure. The Specialist Upgrade system will also be getting an upgrade!

In other news, Path of Exile players certainly have a lot to look forward to from now until the end of the year!  Six events have been announced, starting today and running until January 10.  First is the Endless Delve where you’ll explore the Azurite Mine, skipping the campaign entirely!  Next you’ll compete in Zizaran’s gauntlet, where the challenge is much, much greater than before.  Endless Heist is up next, an all new game mode where you level solely by taking on risky heists, where if you die, you’ll lose all your loot!  Atlas Invasion is another new mode where map bosses exist on every single map in Wraeclast, giving the possibility of huge gains, but with greater challenge.  Delirium Everywhere is yet another new mode where every zone is filled with even more monsters than before, at significant challenge to boot!  Lastly, Path of Exile: Royale will be making a comeback three times during the events, featuring Brutus as the uncaring guardian of the center!  If you reach level 50 in any of these events, you’ll even receive an Atlantis Mystery Box to open, so plan early and try to conquer each of these 10 day events. Good luck!

Brawlhalla’s at it again with their latest crossover, released just before Thanksgiving last week – introducing Street Fighter! The three epic crossovers include Ryu, Chun-Li, and Akuma. The update also brought a new Knockout K.O. effect with voice over inspired by the Street Fighter series, new emotes and more. For those less interested in the crossover there’s also a new rematch feature and a new Street Brawl game mode.

Also last week, SMITE revealed its final new god for 2021: the Titan Atlas, a Greek Pantheon Guardian! This guardian’s passive stores energy in his Astrolabe as he takes or deals damage, which in turn offers a boost to his basic attack. He can throw this Astrolabe with Unburden, causing an AoE explosion that slows enemies, and can also pull enemies into the Astrolabe and launch them toward him! Atlas can also cleanse slows and increase the movement speeds of his allies, and his ultimate calls down a powerful radioactive gamma-ray that does damage and lowers enemies protection and power. Atlas arrives this month, expected on December 14th, along with the month’s other updates including Yulefest.

Dungeon Fighter Online has launched its latest update: Season 6, act 21 Lady Vengeance. This update brings in the swordswoman Spectre – aka the Female Slayer – and adds two new advancements, Rebellion and Vendetta, along with the Spectre Neo Awakening. This is one badass fighter perfect for those who wanna do a lot of damage and look good doing it. This is also the first time you can directly create advanced characters! As always DFO is running events to help you level your new characters so make sure to check it out.

And for wargame fans out there, Armored Warfare has rolled out its latest update this week, bringing the “Exodus” season to life. This update introduces the new special operation “Burning Grounds”, balance changes, and the new free winter event, Whispers of Frost. The new event is available until December 31st and includes exclusive themed rewards, loot crates, premium time and gold. More is coming as the Exodus season rolls through February including a new PvP map, autocannon overhaul and more.

Finally let’s check in at the Epic Games Store and see what’s free this week. First up is Dead By Daylight, a highly praised 4 versus 1 horror game pitting four regular players against a Killer in a true horror movie vibe. Dead by Daylight also stands out because its maps are procedurally generated, meaning that there’s always an element of surprise. Our second free game this week is While True: Learn, a puzzle game in which you are tasked with building a cat-to-human translation system. While it is a puzzle game it’s also designed to be educational about coding, machine learning, and other technologies. And one last good mention for the Epic Games Store – this weekend, until December 6th, Rainbow Six Siege is available on a free trial basis.

But with that said, that’s about it for all the major news and announcements for this week. Be sure to stay safe, and keep your families healthy! Like always you can find more information on the news topics, linked in the description below, feel free to discuss the news or even more news in the comments below and don’t forget to like, subscribe, wash your hands a bunch, hit that little bell icon to get notifications and of course share this video! But until next time guys that’s going to be it for me… I’m JamesBl0nde… see ya out there gamers!

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